Each year, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) releases its Insights on Voluntary Support of Education report. This report analyzes critical donor data for higher education institutions. The findings of CASE’s recently released 2024 report aligns with overall donor trends that the industry has been experiencing.
In 2024, the sources of support with the highest growth were foundations and donor advised funds (DAFs). This is unsurprising given the continued growth of foundation endowments and increased contributions to DAFs over the past several years.
But a more important revelation in the data is the decrease in support from corporations and other organizations in 2024. This decrease is consistent with the long-term decline in these sources of support for higher education institutions.
The CASE report reinforces our recommendation for higher education institutions. Like most nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions need to refocus fundraising efforts on philanthropic institutions and high-net-worth individuals and families.
To learn more about DAFs, visit RSM’s nonprofit services page.
In particular, private foundations, DAFs and bequests are the sources that we anticipate will show the most growth over the coming years. A reliance on mass, often mailed, appeal will produce continuing declines in an institution’s return on investment, but the opportunities for large gifts have never been better.
